Online Marketing & Digital Marketing

What Is a Touchpoint and How Does It Shape a Customer’s Experience With Your Brand?

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By Estela Viñarás, on 28 June 2022

Any brand's marketing team must know what the customer journey looks like for their users and what the different touchpoints are. But what is a touchpoint? In this article, we'll review what they are, the most popular ones, and why they are important for your business.

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What Are Touchpoints?

Touchpoints refer to all of the moments that the customer and the brand come into contact with each other, causing the customer to make a purchase or leave with a certain impression or image. They are fundamental in the process of brand building.

Touchpoints do not only occur at a specific moment in the customer journey, they last throughout the entire process, even when the customer is already loyal.


Differences Between Touchpoints and Channels

It’s important not to confuse touchpoints with communication and sales channels like social networks, email, or telephone, although they are closely related. While these are means of interaction, touchpoints are the moments when brands come into contact with customers, and they can do so through these channels.

In other words, channels are where these touchpoints take place.

To better understand both concepts and how they differ, we will review you an example: when a customer asks a question through social networks and the brand responds, the channel will be the social network and the touchpoint will be the interaction that has taken place between the person and the company.


5 Benefits of Using Touchpoints

As you have already seen, establishing contact points for your business is a very important part of your marketing and communication strategy. But, in what specific ways can these touchpoints benefit your brand? There are five main advantages.


1. Reputation

The way you relate to your customers is crucial. An adequate and comprehensive response that solves the customer's problem will help improve your brand image and, ultimately, increase your reputation.


2. Differentiation

Touchpoints are a great resource that you can use to stand out from the crowd. There is a lot of competition today, no matter what market you are in. Take advantage of the opportunities these touchpoints give you to make your brand stand out from the rest.


3. Profitability

On an economic level, it’s more expensive to attract new customers than to keep them loyal. Contact points will help you on both ends, increasing conversions and, therefore, the profitability of your business.


4. Customer Experience

If your community and your customers get answers and receive adequate attention from your brand, their experience in the different communication and sales channels will be positive.


5. Personalization

Most customers expect companies to provide immediate, proactive, and personalized attention at every point of contact. This is why marketing is becoming increasingly personalized to offer each user what they really want. Touchpoints give you the opportunity to generate a unique experience for each of them.


The Most Common Touchpoints in Any Customer Journey

Now that you have seen the importance of touchpoints, it is time for you to learn how to implement them into your marketing strategy.

There are many common touchpoints for most businesses, but we encourage you to research and design your own, both at the beginning of the customer journey and in the middle and end. Don't forget that, once the person has become a customer, you need to encourage customer loyalty.

Here are some of the most common ones.


Touchpoints Before the Purchase

In the first phase of the customer journey, users have just detected a need of their own and are looking for businesses like yours that can satisfy it. It’s at this point when, through channels such as social networks or search engines, they will begin their research. Therefore, your presence is very important in both places in order to give clear and simple information about everything your products or services can offer.

In social networks, users can leave comments publicly or privately. A good strategy for creating your touchpoints should be to establish the form and style of replying to these messages, as you should not miss this first opportunity for contact.

On the other hand, in search engines, people tend to look for information about a specific topic and leave their concerns on brand blogs. Don't forget to respond through these channels as well, because although social networks are the main place to establish contact, these channels are also important.


Touchpoints During a Purchase

Although we have focused on virtual touchpoints, we can’t forget that touchpoints can also be physical. Customer service by phone as well as in-person is at the forefront when it comes to offering customers personalized interactions.


Touchpoints for Loyalty

Upselling is a way to generate another touchpoint in the final phase of the customer journey. Conducting satisfaction surveys or offering the possibility of a subscription are also excellent ways to do so.New Call-to-action

Estela Viñarás

Responsable de Relación con los Clientes de Cyberclick

Responsible for Cyberclick Customer Relationship.